Teachers....

I have received a very nice letter (more than 4 pages) from my friends at Maring'a Juu Primary School in Mwika Tanzania. They continue to struggle with their daily lives in this village. Their struggles are greater than you and I can ever imagine. The teachers have very little income and they must walk great distances on their bare feet to get to their destinations. I saw this with my own eyes when I visited Mwika in February. They are SO grateful for the donations that were recently sent to them. They appreciate the help more than you can imagine. The monetary support and the supplies that were received to help the teachers were greatly appreciated. One of the teachers that became close with me wrote that, even if we weren't able to send things to them, she is so appreciative of the prayers that are given. She believes that prayer is powerful and I have to agree with her, I have witnessed alot with prayer lately.

The letter I received was a kind note signed by all the teachers at Maring'a Juu. They wanted everyone to know just how much they appreciate everyone's kindness.
They said to have friends in the USA is like having an extended family beyond their borders. Most of the teachers at this school have never gotten further than their village limits. They expressed how difficult it was to teach geography when they really have no idea of what things look like beyond their village.

We are so blessed to have access to Television (although with the news that is on the TV some days I wonder if we are really lucky??), DVD's, Radio, Internet, Cell phones, landline phones, libraries, healthcare, convenience stores etc and you can see the list of what we have access too is greater than they will ever experience. For them to teach the students at this school is so limiting. They have one textbook that teaches geography. I looked at it with my own eyes. It teaches about their own country and very little about the world as a whole. I finally understand now, what they were telling me about their needs as teachers. The conditions of these classrooms and school as a whole remain their largest worry. It gets very cold in this village especially in the rainy season. The classrooms have no windows, dirt floors, no ceiling and a sheet metal roof. I know it's hard to imagine for us. I walked through each of the classrooms and nearly sprained my ankle each and every time I walked through. They teach in this environment and hope for better each and everyday they are there.

Please keep my friends at Maring'a Juu (17 teachers) in your hearts and prayers. I know they appreciate this as they told me 4 times in the letter!! In your very fortunate world, thank you for being so considerate of those less fortunate. You are truly making a difference!!

Until next time~

Cheers!